Forgiveness

Forgiveness

            How do you question someone else’s forgiveness? Before you can begin to forgive you have to know the meaning of the word, the definition Merriam Webster’s dictionary gives for the word forgive is to cease to feel resentment against(Merriam-webster.com). The Jewish people suffered greatly at the hands of the German’s during the Holocaust. They were experimented on, forced to do hard labor, and killed yet some of them were still able to find forgiveness.

As I watched the video Forgiving Dr. Mengele my heart ached. The way the Jewish people especially the twins that the doctor experimented on was just horrible. He would take them and place them in a room naked for six to eight hours every day so that they could be observed (Forgiving Dr. Mengele).Dr. Josef Mengele who was also known as the Angel of death experimented on people with unique hereditary traits(Rosenberg). To think of some of the things that these people went through is overwhelming. If one twin died then the other one was killed with a lethal injection to the heart so that an autopsy could be performed to see if there were any similarities in death as there were in life.

When arriving at Auschwitz the Jewish people were gathered on a ramp where they were separated. Some people were sent to the gas chamber to immediately die while others were kept alive for labor purposes. The ones, mostly strong, healthy males, who were selected for labor were dehumanized and given numbers which were their new identities. They were not allowed to keep any of their personal belongings and their heads were shaved to take away individuality (Rosenberg).  Once the process of dehumanization was done they were told what happened to the other members of their family and many of them died from grief. Life in the camp was torture not just physically but mentally.

Over 6 million Jews were killed 1.5 million were children (Hitler’sChildren.com).  Most of the prisoners were placed in the gas chamber, while others simply died from the torture and conditions that they were forced to live in. Once they died they were then sent to the crematorium to be cremated. Many survivors recall the horrendous smell of the burning bodies, they did not know what the smell was at the time. The majority of the children died from the experimentation that they were put through. There were about 9 million Jews in Europe before World War II, and 2/3 of them were killed by the end of the war(Hitler’sChildren.com). There was no compassion for these people.

There are some people who may say that the Holocaust never happened and it is impossible to kill that many people. Some of the survivors have forgiven the Germans and the Nazis for what they did to them and their families. Others say that they will never be able to forgive and that is their preference. Some may feel that Mengele was not wrong for his part in what happened and that the experimentation was alright. The fact remains that millions of people lost their lives for no reason other than they did not look how someone else felt they should look.

The attempted genocide of the Jewish people was senseless and it takes a strong person to forgive the acts of experimentation, forced labor, and murder. Forgiveness is a personal choice and no one has the right to tell someone they are wrong for being forgiving. Eva Kor said “forgiveness means what was done to me no longer brings me such pain” and I do not think I could have said it better (Forgiving Dr. Mengele). Everyone needs to learn to let go of the past and forgive. Forgiving is not forgetting just because you let go of the pain does not mean that you are letting go of the memories

Journal 8

I enjoyed ENC 1102, the blogging was a new experience for me but I enjoyed it. I thought the videos that we had to write about were very informational. I could relate to them and they were easy for me to write about. Having to do journals on the videos really helped me to focus and narrow down my writing topic. I really enjoyed the group critiquing and the input from my peers. The blogging was a new experience for me and I really loved it I am not going to promise to continue but I may. I did get a little lost with my comments though and I did not think to keep a list of which blogs I commented on until after the suggestion was made then it was a little too late. Overall I loved the atmosphere of the class and the people that I was able to meet. I am happy that you came up with the idea of posting our journals and final essays on our blogs so that others could read and comment on them. I feel that the feedback was very good and it helped me to think more about my topics. I enjoyed reading my classmates work and being able to see their point of view on the different subjects. I would like to thank you Mrs. Warren for helping me to experience something new.

Super Teacher

Super Teacher

            Has the quality of teachers changed or is it the value?  Teachers have really been coming under fire these last few years. School grades across the country have dropped and the question that is being asked is it the fault of the teachers or the students. In today’s schools there is a lot for teachers to deal with. A student’s home life, I.Q. level, and the classroom make-up are all factors that play a role in a child’s ability to learn.

Take a child’s home life for instance, whether there are both parents in the house or one really takes a toll on a child. You could take most of the children that I interact with on a daily basis and decide which ones come from two parent or one parent homes based on a lot of their behavior. In 2000, 27% of all United States children were living in single-parent homes”(Barajas).  Children who come from single parent households tend to have more behavior problems in school. They are often confrontational and more emotional, especially males who have no positive male role model or “father figure” in their lives, than most other students. When you have students who only have one parent they do not get as much attention at home, if there are other siblings or the parent is working multiple jobs to make ends meet then the parent’s time and focus is taken away from that child and placed elsewhere. At low income schools this tends to be especially true and then it becomes solely on the teacher to work with and try to give this student adequate attention. There is no problem with a teacher doing this, but when you have a classroom of twenty or more students it becomes difficult to give one student extra attention without taking attention away from the others.

            I.Q. level also plays a big part in a student’s ability to learn. There was a point in time when the slow learners would have a small classroom with other students who were similar to them. Now, in most schools, there are no longer special classrooms and the ESE students are being placed in classrooms with regular students. It is not just the slow learners but also the advanced kids who suffer. You get a student who is ahead of the class and they get bored because their minds are not being stimulated enough. Teachers are now expected to teach below, on, and over grade level. This proves difficult for a lot of teachers, how do you successfully move children forward without losing the ones who are already behind or boring the ones who are ahead?

Once you start putting too many different students into one class issues will arise. I work in a class called the STAR class, which is an acronym for students taking academic responsibility, the children in this class are overage and we work with them to try to get them double promoted. A few years ago we had a student who was in fourth grade, she should have been in middle school already, and she could only read at a second grade level. Even with extra help this is a student who will probably never make significant academic achievement and more than likely will drop out of school in a couple of years because she is so far behind. You have classes that have 35 students in them and because there are two teachers it is fine, but even with two teachers that is too many kids in one room to effectively learn.

I am not saying the fault lies totally on the students because there are some teachers who just should not be teaching. To me teaching is one of those careers that you have to have a passion for. No matter how many or what kind of kids some teachers get the kids will never learn but that does not give a teacher the reason to stop trying. Not all kids are slow learners some just need an extra push but some teachers just are not willing to put forth the effort. I agree with Michelle Rhee that students not adults should be our top priorities (Waiting for Superman).

Law makers should take into consideration how some classes are made up before they pass laws that effect education. You can have the most super teacher in the world in a classroom but there will be no super gains if you do not address the student’s issues. Look at home life, and the I.Q. of the students. Then, look at the make-up of the class before you try to evaluate whether or not a teacher deserves to teach.

Journal 7

I had mixed feelings watching the film Waiting for Superman. On one hand I agree with that failing schools need to be looked at. Teachers who are not producing results should no longer be employed. Public education is free and teachers should not go into this field just looking for a paycheck. You have to have a passion and as a parent I would hate for my children to have teachers who really do not want to be there because they are not going to produce results or gains. On the other hand school grades and student gains should not be placed entirely on the teacher. Other factors should be considered, not all teachers are bad teachers. They are dealt bad classes. There is only so much one teacher can do for a student who has an abundance of outside issues. I really think too much blame is placed on teachers, students and their parents should also be held responsible for their academic success. The school’s neighborhood should also be looked at is the school in a low income neighborhood or is the neighborhood more high income. There are a lot of outside factors that play a role in a school’s grade not just how well a teacher teaches. 

Troubled Teens

Troubled Teens

American teenagers spend 10 hours and 45 minutes a day on media consumption (Miss Representation). Young girls are given the impression, through media, that their value and worth is based on how they look.  The idea that they are not perfect causes depression and suicide rates to rise, the number of teenagers having sex to go up, and ambition to fall. Young girls need to know that the people who are being portrayed in the media as perfect are nowhere close to being as perfect as they seem.

53% of 13 year old girls are unhappy with their bodies and by age 17 the percentage rises to 78. As young girls try to fit in to how society thinks they should look, like they lose self-esteem. Depression rates doubled from 2000 to 2010 (Miss Representation). As depression rates rise so do suicide rates, in 2004 4,599 young adults, ages 10-24, committed suicide (nbc.com). Although there is no accurate count for suicide attempts so the number would be twice that if more people were successful.

More than 20% of teens have sex before the age of 14 (Miss Representation). This is partially because girls are trying to fit in and be considered cool. When I was in middle school I knew a girl who was going around having oral sex with guys because she heard it in a rap song and she wanted to be like those girls.  One day she said she was going to go home and drink bleach to try kill herself. She was being talked about but it was not in the same way the guys in the song were talking. Now working with young girls I see and hear in elementary school some of the things that my generation did not think about until high school. I hear fourth and fifth graders talking about having sex and my jaw drops. The part that saddens me the most is that young girls are growing up entirely too fast. I see these girls wearing short skirts and shorts that when I was their age I would have been spanked for even asking my parents to buy. They are wearing make-up at the age of six or seven because they see all the singers and actresses wearing it. A lot of young girls now look a lot older than they are and in turn are being forced to act older by having sex with boys and men, who are much older and more mature, to fit in.

Seeing the way females are being portrayed in media can cause a young girl’s ambition to fall. Who would want to aspire to be successful when the successful women are given the most grief? To see and hear things like a female will never make as much money as a man at one point women made seventy-seven cents for every dollar a man made. The pay gap has dropped with females making ninety-three cents with MBA’s and even that is less a nickel less than before (bussinessweek). A woman will never be president or hold a real position of power is something that has been said for centuries in America. Women are described as bitchy, catty, and violent, these are some of the reasons that they cannot get ahead of their male counterparts. To a young girl hearing things like this all of her life this is a real ego buster. 

As adults we need to guide our young girls and teach them that it is alright to be their selves. We need to explain to them that everything they see on television or read in a magazine is not always accurate. Models are being photo shopped so that they look a certain way when in reality a lot of them do not look quite as good in person as they do in print or on the big screen.

As the next generation of young women begin to come into their own it is up to us, the older generation, to show them that there is more to life than what the media portrays. If we can steer our young ladies in the correct direction then our suicide and depression rates will drop, teen sex rates will go down, and overall female ambition will rise. Our adolescents need to know that with positive reinforcement they can be whatever it is they put their minds to. They do not have to settle for the stereotypes that is portrayed by the media.

Works Cited

Damast, Allison.“MBA Gender Pay Gap: An Industry Breakdown.”  Businessweek.com.  7 Jan.

2013. Web. 30 Mar. 2013

Miss Representation. Dir. Jennifer Seibel. Girls Club Entertainment, 2011. DVD.

“CDC: Suicide rate jumps for kids,young adults.”  Nbcnews.com. 6 Sept. 2007. Web. 29 Mar.

2013

 

Journal 6

I  was  very  surprised  by  the  figures  that  were  presented  especially  when  they  were  talking  about  the  percentage  of  teenage  females  who  suffer  from  depression.  I  never  had  to  deal  with  this  personally  but  I  know  people  who  have  and  are  still  suffering  from  depression  and  to  hear  that  the  number  of  females  going  through  this  is  getting  higher  instead  of  lowering  it  is  heartbreaking.  As  adult  females  we  should  be  encouraging  young  adults  to  be  more  confident  with  themselves  instead  of  trying  to  be  like  the  people  who  are  in  the  magazines  or  on  television.  I  work  with  adolescent  girls  on  a  daily  basis  and  after  watching  this  video  I  started  to  pay  more  attention  to  how  they  are  dressing  and  wearing  their  hair  and  I  am  starting  to  see  the  impact  media  is  having  on  their  everyday  decisions. As women we should be uplifting each other. We need to teach the younger generation that it is ok to be comfortable with who you are no matter your shape or size. Girls now are so worried about what the people on television are wearing that they try extra hard to fit into that image that they are seeing when in reality no one is perfect and even the people that they are seeing are covered in make-up and being airbrushed to look better. I have a daughter and I try hard to let her be herself. I monitor what she watches and I try to explain to her that what she sees is not always real.

What a Waste

            Have you ever heard the saying “waste not, want not” (Dive)? Now in days it seems like we are wasting a lot more than we are saving. Food waste is a big problem in today’s society, “96 billion pounds of food is wasted a year” (Dive). Everywhere you turn food is being wasted, in schools, grocery stores, and households. There are numerous ways to cut back on food waste. Americans have seemed to become too comfortable in thinking that the supply of food is endless.

            The schools in Duval County will throw food away before they will give it to a student without lunch money. If a child comes through the lunch line and they are over their allowed spending limit the cafeteria workers are told to throw away the food, once it is touched it cannot be given to someone else. Then the student is given a cold cheese sandwich consisting of two stale pieces of bread and cheese which most students just throw away. With this process not only is the original hot lunch wasted but so is the cheese sandwich. At most schools students are not allowed to share food so if a student does not want something on their tray they are instructed to throw it away. Studies show that “food waste at schools nationwide costs about $1 billion annually” (theslowcook.com).

            Grocery stores also play a big part in the amount of food wasted every year. Food that is considered “bad” is thrown out at night. I know some of you are saying bad food should be thrown away but then you have to define the word bad. The expiration date is one determining factor of bad food but the date you see is usually the date the store has to stop selling it not the date that it is no longer good to eat(webmd.com). If one tomato in a pack goes bad then the whole package is thrown out (Dive). Have you ever really paid attention to the carts in the stores that have marked down items in them because they are about to expire?

            Even in our own homes we are constantly wasting food.  Some people do not like to eat left over food therefore they just throw cooked food away after everyone has eaten. They freeze meat that they may buy on sale then forget to take it out of the freezer so they buy more and end up throwing the frozen meat away. Americans tend to cook big meals on holidays and birthdays knowing it is not going to get eaten just so family, friends, and neighbors can pick over what was cook. Children are forced to half eat a meal because even though we know our kids don’t like broccoli we try to make them eat it anyway. There are countries like Haiti that are in dire need of food and The United States of America is wasting it just because we do not value food.

            Waste can be cut back on if people really tried. There are people in need throughout the world and most people and places would rather throw food out then to give it to people in need because they are afraid of a lawsuit (Dive). Thanks to former President Bill Clinton you do not have to worry about things like this. In 1996 President Bill Clinton signed The Federal Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (feedingamerica.org). President Clinton signed this act to encourage donation of food and grocery products to non-profit organizations for distribution to individuals in need (feedingamerica.org). This law protects people from liability when they donate to a non-profit organization and protects individuals from civil and criminal liability should the product donated in good faith later cause harm to the recipient (feedingamerica.org). Grocery stores can now give freely to others without fear. Share tables will help to cut waste in schools. A share table is when students place unwanted food on an empty table for anyone to enjoy. At home we can just buy what we need or cook only what we will eat so that we are not throwing out food every day.

            The next time you are at home or in the grocery store take a minute to really look and see how much food is being wasted. Visit your children during lunch time and just observe the way lunch is handled at their school. Are they allowed to share, or are they forced to throw their food away. We as Americans have to do better and we have to stop being so wasteful. Whether it is at school, home, or in the grocery store it is up to us to stop this wasteful cycle.